For reals, today has been off the charts awful. What is it about returning to a full week of work after a vacation that makes everything just...well... SUCK.
I've been having a pity party for one over here. And man do I throw a mean party- binge eating chocolate, guzzling Diet Dr. Pepper by the 32oz vanilla-laced QuikTrip cup, and crying more than a few tears over nothing that really matters. Then to top it all off, CD 1 hit yesterday and I decided to complete the party by adding my good friend Ativan to keep me sane. Oh yes, its been real. The saving grace of CD1 was this little nugget of adorableness:
Meet Delilah. The newest member of the Garner family. She is already giving her big sister an enormous amount of grief. I love it. (Paybacks are, well, a bitch. Literally in this instance. Sorry Tank.)
I sat down this afternoon at work with a little extra time on my hands, and figured I could prepare this week's Sunday School lesson. I am in charge of teaching a class of twelve sixteen year olds every other week for my church. Truthfully, they are really good kids but I've been slacking on the lessons because they are so talkative and haven't been very attentive lately. I don't blame them, I remember being sixteen. It was hard- especially during the end of school year stress and then the summer boredom. You take them out of their shorts and tshirts and make them dress up for three hours every Sunday, and you can bet they aren't going to 100% agreeable. But I digress. I pulled up the lesson for this coming week in our handy dandy online manual. Every month is a new theme, and this month's theme is covenants. The title is "How can I deepen my understanding of covenants?" Oh great, another lesson that will go WAY over these kids' heads and bore them to death. Generally we are given a list of scriptures, talks and videos that will assist in teaching the topic. One of the talks was from General Conference back in October of 2011, and is entitled "Covenants" by Russell M. Nelson (who in case you didn't know is not only one of the leaders of our church, but also a fairly famous heart surgeon. A man of science who believes in the power of God. Awwwwesome.) Part of his talk discussed the covenants that God made with Abraham. Abraham and his wife prayed for years to have a child. When he was finally blessed with a son, Isaac, God commanded him to take him to a mountain and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham did as he was commanded, and God stopped the sacrifice and provided a ram in place of Isaac to use. Elder Nelson says in his talk:
"In the Bible we read of men and women in the Old World who were identified as children of the covenant. What covenant? “The covenant which God made with [their] fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” In the Book of Mormon we read of people in the New World who were also identified as children of the covenant. The resurrected Lord so informed them: “Behold, ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” The Savior explained the importance of their identity as children of the covenant. He said, “The Father having raised me up unto you first, … sent me to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities; and this because ye are the children of the covenant.” The covenant God made with Abraham and later reaffirmed with Isaac and Jacob is of transcendent significance. It contained several promises, including:
• Jesus the Christ would be born through Abraham’s lineage.
• Abraham’s posterity would be numerous, entitled to an eternal increase, and also entitled to bear the priesthood.
• Abraham would become a father of many nations.
• Certain lands would be inherited by his posterity.
• All nations of the earth would be blessed by his seed.
• And that covenant would be everlasting—even through “a thousand generations.”
As a daughter of Christ I am entitled to these same blessings if I live worthy of them. I need to be reminded now and again every day that this life is just a blink of an eye in the perspective of the eternities to come. I will not be denied any of these blessings- it just may not be in this earthly life that I am able to gain them. Think about it though- we are all promised that the nations of the earth will be blessed by our seed. And everlastingly so! Growing up we read the Young Women Theme every week in our Sunday class:
From the time I was twelve til I was eighteen I was reminded weekly of who I am and what my potential is. Suddenly the real world took over and things got hard. I need to remember that I am a daughter of God, entitled to all the blessings I ask for as long as they are sought with pure intent and a humble heart.
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